Weed enthusiasts have 4/20 and 7/10 to celebrate their love of cannabis. Now 9/20 - Global Magic Mushroom Day - is doing the same for the powerful natural compound, psilocybin.
Nicholas Reville, from Providence, Rhode Island, claims he created the September 'shroom holiday. "It's at the beginning of autumn when mushrooms are most plentiful, it's close to the equinox representing a change in direction and it echoes 4/20 and the successful movement for marijuana decriminalization and legalization," he tells Rolling Stone.
Psychedelics are on a similar track as cannabis was a few years ago. One state, Oregon, legalized psilocybin therapy in November and numerous cities (Oakland, Denver, Santa Cruz, Ann Arbor, Washington, DC) have deciminalized many plants and substances for medicinal purposes.
10 Things to Do on September 20, According to 920 Coalition
• Have a pot luck or a picnic.
• Go on a mushroom foray: "Get someone who knows his or her mushrooms, pack some food and water with you and head to the forest."
• Hold a mushroom culivation workshop (or sign up for an online magic mushrooms course).
• Organizer mushroom talks: "Get one or a few good speakers who resonate with the movement and who are good storytellers."
• Do a webcast (amended to include open a room on Clubhouse).
• Have a campfire: "Add a little music with singing and humming, and you have an act of collective creation."
• Participate in a psychedelic integration circle: "Sit in a circle, and let people who feel they have unresolved topics from their past journeys talk."
• Book a dance party: "You can have a smaller dance event at your home, or you can rent out a venue and plan a full-blown 920 party."
• Show some trippy movies: "Serve tea when the movie is over, and let people discuss what they saw. [Tea is] scientifically proven to make people friendlier."
• Take a bike ride: "Bicycle riding and psychedelic holidays have been associated for some time now." This is primarily a reference to Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann who synthesized LSD at the Sandoz lab and discovered its effects while on a bicycle ride on April 19, 1943. 4/19 is also recognized as a holiday in the psychedelic community.
The website notes: "If you are privileged to [live] where psilocybin mushrooms are allowed, then there are obvious ways you can add them to the mix."
Happy 9/20!
